"It is worth repeating at this point the theories that Ford had come up with, on his first encounter with human beings, to account for their peculiar habit of continually stating and restating the very very obvious, as in "It's a nice day," or "You're very tall," or "So this is it, we're going to die." His first theory was that if human beings didn't keep exercising their lips, their mouths probably shriveled up. After a few months of observation he had come up with a second theory, which was this--"If human beings don't keep exercising their lips, their brains start working."
Brain quotes
Brain
3.4K quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
Explore further
Topics related to Brain
Browse quotes that often appear alongside brain — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Brain quotes (page 28 of 170)
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"Insofar as she recognized at all that she was dreaming, she realized that she must be exploring her subconscious mind. She had heard it said that humans are supposed only to use about a tenth of their brains, and that no one was really clear what the other nine tenths were for, but she had certainly never heard it suggested that they were used for storing penguins."
"A few moments of inner peace and quiet allows the brain to reset itself. You become more centered as this happens, since the brain is clearing out distractions and too much "cross talk.""
"The vice-president's tongue is several time zones ahead of his brain."
"Time in the heart and sequence in the brain-- Such as destroyed Rimbaud and fooled Verlaine. And let us then take godhead by the neck-- And strangle it, and with it, rhetoric."
"There are some with brains and some without. It makes for a better division of labour."
"It's the best gift in the world to be able to get up and dance because it's the best gym. You artistically stretch your brain and you physically stretch your body to a higher point than a singular rotation movement like running. It makes your whole body move in lots of different ways, and it can make you very flexible as well, which is good for later life."
"I've always thought I could use my brain and my heart to jockey everyone around to the good. But life is not jockeyable. When you try, you make people infinitely crazier than they already were, including or especially yourself."
"I tell you what you’ll never really know: all the medical hypothesis that explained my brain will never be as true as these struck leaves letting go."
"For the one and only time I caught a glimpse of a great heart as well as of a great brain."
"The purpose of technology is not to confuse the brain but to serve the body."
"The study of thinking machines teaches us more about the brain than we can learn by introspective methods. Western man is externalizing himself in the form of gadgets."
"Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled. Be not disturbed with my infirmity."
"Anyone who is not a liberal in his youth has no heart. Anyone who remains so as he matures has no brain!"
"There's not an idea in our heads that has not been worn shiny by someone else's brains."
"Wisdom is not found with those who dwell at their ease; rather nature, when she adds brain, adds difficulty."
"In 1948, television was introduced, and millions and millions of people lead larval, low-awareness, warehoused lives mainlining an electronic drug straight into their brains."
"No machines will ever truly fully figure the brain out, because the brain's performance is constantly altered or else constrained by this inanimate, rogue artifact you can't control, namely, speech."
"But her brain was not interested in the future. Loaded with the past and hungry for more, it left her no room to imagine, let alone plan for, the next day."
"My brain tells me it will be better to just let him go. My heart... not so much."